Urban Commons |

Towards an urban agenda of the commons: a case study of the political demands of the urban commons in Barcelona

Sun, 02 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Problematizing Urban Commons: Towards a “Provincialised” Approach

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Precariousness Of Urban Commons In The Face Of European Public Law

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Urban Commons and the Production of Alternatives to the Neoliberal City

Mon, 01 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Warning

Due to copyright, it is prohibited to reproduce books’ content. This is just an excerpt of this chapter’s introduction. In order to get the book, please visit .

Introduction

At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, most of the Western world started to suffer from a structural crisis. What seemed to be merely a financial problem soon started to impregnate all facets and actors of a society that heavily relies on consumption and loans to maintain its consumerist thirst. As a result, a context of growing inequalities accentuated by austerity policies – supposedly¹ aimed to mitigate the negative consequences of the crisis – started to shape. Within this scenario, cities have played a key role in favouring so.² First, because current crises are rooted into the processes of accumulation by dispossession (Harvey 2004) resulting from recent urban governance policies more concerned by profit than social issues (Burkhalter and Castells 2009; Harvey 2012; Marcuse 2012; Marcuse et al. 2008; Sevilla-Buitrago 2015; Stiglitz 2011). As a result, cities (and everything that lies within – citizens and buildings included) have turned into trading goods aiming to attract foreign capital like investments or tourism.³ Second, because contemporary cities have slowly and imperceptibly turned to be socio-technological constructs aimed to reproduce a capitalist system that increases inequalities by means of domination and control, as argued by authors like Stavros Stavrides (2015) based on Foucault’s studies on biopolitics and disciplinary control (Foucault 1995; Foucault 2007; Foucault 2010).

If it was ever true, the ideal image of the city as the domestication of a world full of perils that provides shelter and protection with the adequate conditions for human reproduction and development is no longer valid. The following pages are inserted in the epistemological tradition that conceives the city as a synonym of conflict, mostly originated by class struggle (Aibar and Bijker 1997; Brenner, Marcuse, and Mayer 2012; Casellas 2006; Castells 1977; Harvey 1989; Lenin 1999; Sorando Ortín 2014). This conception implies that cities are much more than a sort of ideal scenario where life and class confrontation simply happen. On the contrary: cities are the physical dimension of a society (Castells 1983, 311) in which space is socially produced (Lipietz 1977; Marcuse 2011; Sevilla-Buitrago 2012, 39) in order to satisfy its interests and goals (Castells 1983, 312). Nevertheless, if cities have played such a key role in favouring crisis and inequalities, it can be argued that they can also be key in fighting their negative consequences. In other words: the solution should be found in the same place where the root of the problem lies. For this reason, the selection of cities as a context for studying social transformation is, hence, more than justified. Proof can be found in the notorious concentrations around the world that flourished following Arab Spring example, which shared similar patterns: the congregation of thousands of people around the main squares protesting against their governments and their unfair austerity measures. A notorious example was the Indignados Movement of 2011, a distributed movement that spread across the major cities of Spain⁴ against the political and financial model that originated the crisis, the social inequities, the privatisation of public services like health or education, and the political corruption that derived from it. This in turn sparked a series of debates, assemblies and discussions aimed to propose and demand new fairer alternatives.

15M Demonstration in Puerta del Sol, Madrid (May 15th, 2011). Credits: La información.

Despite the evidence that new city models for a new society are needed if we are to prevent repeating the same mistakes one and again, there is no consensus on how they should be in order to fight the scenario of austerity and economic recession previously described. Urban commons are one of the possible answers and models for producing such positive social transformation. In the following pages, we will develop what urban commons are from a theoretical standpoint.

Activists like Naomi Klein argue that crises have often been used by governments worldwide to justify highly unpopular measures that would have been fiercely opposed in other contexts (Klein 2008). ↩︎
For an interpretation of the imbrications between crises, cities and austerity policies, see Peck (2012) for the American context and Sevilla-Buitrago (2015a) for the European context. ↩︎
Check (González (2007), Griffiths (1998) for an explanation on this procedure, called urban marketing. ↩︎
Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza and Sevilla were just a few of the main capitals that held demonstrations on 15 May 2011 and in the following weeks which congregated thousands of people (The Barcelona encampment was the longest, which lasted 45 days in a row). More information about the cities that held 15M demonstrations, as well as their numbers and other references, can be found in the wiki created by the Indignados Movement: . ↩︎

The commodifications between ICTs and public space

Mon, 03 Dec 2018 14:00:06 +0000

The Spatial Apropriation of the Urban Commons

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 14:00:06 +0000

Commoning the City and the Grassroots

Fri, 22 Jun 2018 12:00:06 +0000

Urban Commons: Lessons from Barcelona at the beginning of 21st century

Wed, 11 Apr 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Ponencia de introducción al concepto de los comunes urbanos dentro del marco de la jornada de trabajo Stadt-Teilen – Neue öffentliche Räume und nachbarschaftliche Gemeingüter, liderada por la

IND+I Science award to Metropolitan Innovation Policies

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Although it had officially been announced several days ago, the ¹ awards ceremony took place yesterday, where I received the prize of the category “Metropolitan innovation policies” for my .

El guanyador del Premi Polítiques d'innovació metropolitanes és @carlescamara. El proper 8/02 t'explicarà el seu treball de recerca al CERC @diba. Inscripcions a https://t.co/ehFTblO9q4 #FENTLINDI pic.twitter.com/VhQQApZTWf
— IND+I (@INDI_viladecans) February 5, 2018

The rest of the awards were for:

Sustainable Cities Agenda category: awarded ex-aequo to (UB) for his research “The impact of socioeconomic characteristics on CO2 emissions associated with urban mobility: inequality across individuals “ and to (UAB) for his research “Designing a Social Robot for a Children’s Hospital. Caring responsibilities of Technological Design in sustainable cities “
Innovation and Industry category, awarded to (UAB i University of Aveiro) for her research “Universities in Innovation Policy-Design: a review of the participation of external actors in the policy process for the creation of public value “
Green Industry category, awarded to (URV) for her research “Eco-strategies and firm growth in SMEs: EU15 and new EU membres “
Metropolitan innovation policies, awarded to Carlos Cámara Menoyo (UOC) for research “Urban commons: lessons from Barcelona at the beginning of 21st century “²

Aquí tenim els guanyadors de la primera edició del IND+I Science #FENTLINDI pic.twitter.com/iRLjfYnS40
— IND+I (@INDI_viladecans) February 8, 2018

During the perfectly organized event, each of the winners was able to briefly present their research, grouped into two blocks, which gave way to two very interesting debates although, as always happens to me in these cases, I had the feeling that they were too brief.

Carlos Cámara presenta el seu treball sobre comuns urbans aplicats al cas de Barcelona, que li ha valgut el premi IND+I Science sobre polítiques d'innovació metropolitanes #fentlindi pic.twitter.com/Dit0l656Z0
— David Rodríguez (@davidpemb) February 8, 2018

The event served not only to know the other four winners of the other categories and their research (as a tasting) but also to encourage interesting debates and even networking. All very much in line with IND+I’s transfer objectives.

That is why I can only thank the IND+I Science team for several reasons. Firstly, for contributing with prizes and events like this to make science come out of offices and laboratories, reach the general public and, hopefully, can even be applied. Secondly,as Núria Vallès rightly pointed out, because it is a pleasure to see how the work we have been doing for years and which, is very often solitary, raises certain interest for someone. Thirdly, for contributing financially to the promotion of scientific research, which in recent years has suffered significant cuts. Personally, also for giving me the opportunity to make my research known and to meet the other four winners of the other categories and their research. All very much in line with IND+I’s transfer objectives. Last but not least, for the organisation and the care with which we have been treated at all times.

I also take this opportunity to extend my thanks to the members of the PEMB, not only for sponsoring the prize in my category, but also because they were always very interested in my work and its dissemination. I hope to meet you again soon.

El premi IND+I Science “polítiques d'innovació metropolitana” patrocinat pel PEMB ha recaigut en @carlescamara de @UOCuniversitat pel seu treball sobre “comuns urbans” i com incideixen en la ciutat @INDI_viladecans @pacteindustrial per saber-ne més 👇https://t.co/8I7eDgjulQ
— Pla Estratègic Metropolità de Barcelona (PEMB) (@pembarcelona) February 8, 2018

Without further ado, I’ll leave you some tweets that summarize part of the intervention and the debate.

El @carlescamara s'ha centrat en els comuns urbans, els més vinculats a les ciutats, agents clau a les crisis. Entendre que són, problematitzar-los i veure quines potencialitats i limitacions tenen per produir noves ciutats o entorns #FENTLINDI pic.twitter.com/lOxTNYtW3U
— IND+I (@INDI_viladecans) February 8, 2018

"Sense les comunitats i les persones que hi ha al darrere no es podria parlar de comuns urbans.Són les qui decideixen com s'organitzen per gestionar comunitàriament un determinat recurs"explica @carlescamara (@UOCciudad), un dels guardonats amb els Premis IND+I Science #FENTLINDI pic.twitter.com/McInCdxaQC
— Pla Estratègic Metropolità de Barcelona (PEMB) (@pembarcelona) February 8, 2018

is an initiative to promote scientific research and innovation promoted by the the , the , the and the ↩︎
More information on research at . ↩︎

Urban Commons

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Personal Research line about urban commons as alternative constructions of fairer cities and societies.

Urban Commons: Lessons from Barcelona at the Beginning of 21st Century. A characterization proposal from the praxis

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 17:13:02 +0100

Full text can be found in the following repositories: , , . An on-line and live version can be found in

PhD Viva: 'Urban Commons: Lessons from Barcelona at the Beginning of 21st Century. A characterization proposal from the praxis'

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 14:00:06 +0000